Bragman book makes top 10!

I’m so thriled to see that PR guru Howard Bragman’s terrific new book, Where’s My Fifteen Minutes? has made it to the number 10 spot on the Barnes & Noble list of best sellers. I think the world of Howard anyway but was very touched when last week, shortly after news of my being laid off from the LA Daily News broke, he was one of the first people to call with words of encouragement – and a story pitch for the new blog!

I did an extensive interview with Howard before the release of his book (and had a ball at his book release party at the Chateau Marmont). Here is some of what he had to say about promoting oneself in this new media world:

“We live in a society where 10 years ago celebrities had public images,” he said. “We live in a society where a lot of people have public images now – a reporter, a lawyer, an activist, a politician – by virtue of Google, by virtue of blogs, by virtue of Facebook, more people than ever have a public image.”

“Even if you just read the book, you get a little insight into PR works. I wanted to empower the average person to work on their public image,” he added. “For 100 years, Hollywood has been the Olympics of image management. I’m taking our skills, our secrets and our insights from more than two decades and I’m showing how they apply to somebody in daily life. It’s tough out there. It’s a very, very, very challenging economy. If you want to keep your job, if you want to get a new job, if you want to run for president of the PTA, whatever you want to do, you have to do it on a public image basis. As John Kerry can tell you, if you don’t define yourself, somebody else is going to define you and you probably aren’t going to be as happy about the way they define you as you would about the way you define yourself.”

Great advice – especially when you are starting a new blog!